Jig-saw puzzle



March 27, 1956 J. FRECHTMANN 2,739,816

JIG-SAW PUZZLE Filed Aug. 10, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1

March 27, 1956 J. FRECHTMANN 2,739,816

JIG-SAW PUZZLE Filed Aug. 10, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 2

March 27, 1956 J, FRECHTMANN 2,739,816

JIG-SAW PUZZLE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 10, 1951 United States Patent O JIG-SAW PUZZLE Jean Frechtmann, Paris, France Application August 10, 1951, Serial No. 241,245 3 Claims. (Cl. 273-157) This invention relates to a jig-saw puzzle consisting of a first series of pieces carrying the elements of a picture and a second series of pieces carrying no picture at all, these various pieces being adapted to be juxtaposed for forming a panel, the arrangement being such that at least one piece carrying one element of the picture can be placed in at least two different positions with respect to a piece carrying another element of this picture.

It is thus possible to alter the picture obtained with the jig-saw puzzle according to the invention or to effect different successive combinations, for example by placing part of the picture of a living character or moving object in different orientations relative to other fixed characters or objects, or by placing members or parts of these characters or objects in different positions.

The annexed drawings forming part of this specification illustrate diagrammatically by way of example a few embodiments of this invention. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plane view of a first embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of another embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the modified construction according to Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view at a smaller scale of one half of a jigsaw puzzle according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a first embodiment wherein the jig-saw puzzle comprises at least one piece 2 carrying one portion of the puzzle picture and formed in a piece 1 of any desired contour carrying another portion of the picture of piece 2, the latter consisting of a regular polygonal line B C D E F G A which is part of an octagon having its centre at situated on the mediate line perpendicular to the line AB separating piece 2 from piece 1.

Since this line has a regular polygonal shape, all the sides or segments BC, CD, DE, EF, PG, and GA are equal.

In the example illustrated this line consists of six equal sides but any other number of segments above three may be resorted to, if desired, provided they form a regular polygon.

In this specific embodiment the jig-saw puzzle also comprises a set of interchangeable pieces 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 of isosceles identical triangular shape, of which the base and sides are equal to one segment of the aforesaid polygonal line and to the distance from the centre 0 to any vertex thereof. The number of isosceles triangles provided is as great as the number of segments in the polygonal line, that is, six in the example of Fig. 1, because these triangles are intended to be juxtaposed by their bases to the segments of the polygonal contour of piece 2.

Two adjacent triangular pieces, for instance pieces 3 and 4, carry each one portion of the picture which fits with the portion of piece 2. The other triangular pieces 6, 7, 8, 9 carry no picture portions and may have a uniform color for instance consistent with that of the background of the puzzle picture.

Moreover, the improved jig-saw puzzle according to 2,739,816 Patented .Mar. 27, 1956 this invention comprises as many identical, preferably elongated pieces such as 5, 10, 11, 12, 13 as there are triangular pieces or segments in the polygonal line, minus one, that is, in the example illustrated in Fig. 1, five pieces. These pieces may have any desired contour but the latter is the same for all the pieces. This contour includes a V-shaped convex end the twosides of which are identical with those of the triangular pieces 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and adapted to exactly fit between a pair of adjacent triangular pieces (Fig. 1). Only one of-these pieces 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, for instance the piece 5, carries a portion of the puzzle picture which is the continuation of the portions carried by the triangular pieces 3, 4 between which this piece 5 is adapted to be fitted as illustrated in the drawing. The other pieces 10, 11, 12, 13 also formed with a convex end carry no picture portions and may have the same color as the other triangular pieces 6, 7, 8 and 9 with which they fit as illustrated in Fig. 1, so as to form another portion of the background. It is not absolutely necessary that the contour of the picture portion carried by piece 5 merge with the actual contour of this piece as the shape of the latter is immaterial except for its convex end.

The jig-saw puzzle according to the invention also comprises other pieces of different contours but such as to permit the juxtaposition thereof with the above-mentioned pieces 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 or other similar pieces in view of obtaining a panel representing the complete picture, some of these pieces with different contours carrying picture portions which fit with one another whilst others just serve as a background to the subject.

With the jig-saw puzzle according to the invention the piece 5 and therefore the picture portion carried thereby can be placed in several different positions relative to the piece 2. In the example illustrated in Fig. 1 this piece 5 is located at position I with its convex end inserted between the pair of triangular pieces 3 and 4 which in turn are juxtaposed to the sides BC and CD respectively of the polygonal contour line of the protruding portion 2 of piece 1. However, this piece 5 may be located in five difierent positions I, II, III, IV, V in the example shown, according as it is interchanged with identical pieces 10, 11, 12, 13 which carry no picture portions.

If it is desired to change the position of piece 5 from I to IV, this is obtained as follows:

The positions of the triangular pieces 3, 4 are interchanged with those of pieces 7, 8 respectively and the same is effected with pieces 5 and 12. Thus, the picture portion resulting from the assembly of pieces 3, 4 and 5 has a different orientation with respect to the piece 2.

To change the location of pieces between two successive positions, for example I and II, in some cases and if the picture permits it, it may be sufficient to interchange piece 3 with 6 and 5 with 10 respectively, piece 4 remaining in its original position.

According to another'possible embodiment of the invention the jig-saw puzzle comprises at least one piece formed with a portion protruding in the same plane and the contour of which is a circular are instead of a polygonal line. Thus, in the example illustrated in Fig. 2 the piece 1 is formed with a projection 2 having the shape of a circular are A at the centre 0 of which is placed on the mediate line perpendicular to the line A'B' separating piece 2' from piece 1'. In addition, the puzzle comprises at least three substantially triangular pieces having their sides equal to the radius of the circular are forming the contour of piece 2', and curvilinear bases of the same radius which divide this circular arc in as many equal fractions as there are substantially triangular pieces.

Thus, these pieces are identical with one another and in the example of Fig. 2 six pieces are provided. These are designated with the reference numbers 3', 4, 6', 7',

8', 9, the circular arc AB being divided into as many equal portions BC', CD', D'E', EF', F6 and G'A' against which the substantially triangular pieces are adapted to be fitted.

As in the embodiment of Fig. 1 only two of the"substantially triangular pieces, that. is pieces 3' and 4' carry fragments of the puzzle picture and the series of pieces also comprises five identical, pieces 5', 10', 11', 12 13' formed with a convex end adapted to be fitted betweena pair of adjacent substantially triangular pieces.

Only one of these convex-ended pieces, i. e. piece 5', carries a fragment of the. picture which merges with the other fragment carried by the substantially triangular pieces 3', 4'.

This piece 5', as in the embodiment of Fig. 1, may be placed in five different positions I, II, III, IV, and V around the projection 2 of piece 1'.

Fig. 3 illustrates a possible alteration of this embodiment wherein the centre of the circular arc contour of the piece 2" projecting sidewise from piece 1 is positioned in the middle of the line A"B" separating this projection from piece 1. Besides, this embodiment comprises only three substantially triangular pieces 3, 4 and 6" adapted to fit around the circular are A" B" form ing the contour line of the projecting portion 2" of a piece 1". Of course, this modified embodiment comprises only two identical pieces and with V- shaped convex end and the piece 5" carrying the fragment of the puzzle drawing can only be positioned in two different locations, i. e. I and II.

In other possible embodiments of the invention the piece 2 of Fig. l, or-2' of Fig. 2, may have a contour other than polygonal or circular. At any rate this contour is a regular geometric line inscribable in a circle and divisible into at least three fragments of equal size and shape. Thus, piece 2 may consist of a regular corrugated or zig-zag or otherwise shaped line provided it is inscrioable in a circle.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary illustration of a practical embodiment of the puzzle according to the invention, consisting of a combination of the various pieces described above in connection with Figs. l-3 of the drawings with other pieces 35, 36 of different shapes which fit with one another and with the former. The pieces 35 carry fragments of the character or object constituting the puzzle picture proper and these fragments are such as to complete each other and form the entire picture. The other set of pieces 36 constitute the background of the panel and, in the embodiment illustrated, the pieces 35 form together a character, i. e. a man whose shoulder consists of the projecting circular portion of a piece 14.

Around this circular projection are disposed four sub stantially triangular and indentical pieces 18, 19, and 21 of which the pieces 20 and 21 alone carry a fragment of the picture merging with the shoulder fragment of the character. In the example illustrated these pieces 20, 21 are the portion of the arm attached to this shoulder. Thus, this arm can be placed in three difierent angular positions relative to the shoulder.

In the same Way, the pieces 15, 16 and 17 formed A with a V-shaped convex end fitting in between the pair of substantially triangular pieces 18, 19 and 20, 21 are formed at their other ends with a circular-shaped projection. In the case of Fig. 4, three substantially triangular pieces 26, 27 and 28 fit around the circular projection of piece 17. A pair of identical pieces 24, formed with V-shaped convex ends are inserted by their ends between these substantially triangular pieces, the piece 24 carrying the wrist and hand portion of the character so as to complete the arm carried by the piece 17. As will obviously appear from the drawing, these wrist and hand may be located into two different positions with respect to the arm or piece 17 when the latter is positioned as illustrated in Fig. 4.

0n the other hand, the knee of the character of the puzzle picture, as shown in Fig. 4, may consist of a 'projecting, polygonal-shaped piece 29.

This polygonal contour consists in turn of three seg: ments of equal length against which three identical isosceles triangular pieces 32, 33 and 34 may be fitted as illustrated. Of these, pieces 32 and 33 alone carry a fragment of the picture representing the complemental portion of the knee. Moreover, a pair of identical pieces 30, 31, each formed with a V-shaped convex end, may be inserted between a pair of adjacent substantially triangular pieces, the piece 30 carrying the drawing fragment of a leg and being adapted to be placed between pieces 32 and 33. As a result of the arrangement described above and illustrated inv Fig. 4, this leg portion may occupy two different positions with respect to the knee.

It is therefore apparent that with the jig-saw puzzle according to this invention many diflerent combinations can be eifected without using additional pieces, the desired changes resulting from the mere interchanging of some pieces between themselves relative to other fixed pieces. Although the outlines of the interchangeable pieces ofier the above-defined characteristic features it will be understood that. the attached drawings and the. present specification are merely given for illustrative purpose and that many changes may be brought thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Thus, the. jig-saw puzzle according to this invention may form any desired picture thereby making it possible to place living characters or moving objects in different positions relative to other characters or objects or still, to place parts or members of these characters or objects in different positions relative to the rest thereof. The attractiveness of the game will be enhanced correspondingly as the player will be able to animate the drawing or picture formed on the whole surface of the jig-saw puzzle, or to compose, very difierent pictures with the same pieces of, this. device.

What I claim as new is:

l. In a jigsaw-puzzle composed of a series of complementary picture-carrying units adapted to be juxtaposed in different positions so as to form a complete panel depicting dilterent pictures in the several positions. respectively, in combination, a first picture-containing unit having a projecting edge composed of a plurality of consecutive edge portions of equal profile; at least three intermediate wedge-shaped units of equal size and shape having each an edge portion of complementary profile to, each of said equal edge portions of said first picture-containing unit, said intermediate. Wedge-shaped units lying in the complete panel adjacent to each other and to saidfirst picture-containing unit with their edge faces abutting against corresponding consecutive edge faces of said first picture-containing unit, the total length of said edge portions of said wedge-shaped units not exceeding the total length of said projecting edge portion of said first picture containing unit, two adjacent ones of said wedge-shaped units containing complementary portions of the picture on said first picture carrying portion, said adjacent in- -termediate wedge-shaped units thus forming between themselves receding spaced portions having each a combined edge formed by the edges of said intermediate units, said receding spaced portions and the combined edges thereof being equally shaped; and at least one second picture-containing unit having a shape fitting into one of said receding spaced portions and having an edge portion complementaryto said combined edge portion of said intermediate Wedge-shaped units, said second picturecontaining unit lying in a complete panel in said receding spaced portions with its edge portions abutting against the corresponding combined edge portions of said intermediate units, said second picture-containing unit containing a picture. portion complementing that on the first picturecontaining portion and the said two adjacent wedge-shaped portions to form a complete picture.

2.. In a. jigsaw-pu71le composed of a series of complementary picture-carrying units adapted to be juxtaposed in different positions so as to form a complete panel depicting different pictures in the several positions respectively, in combination, a first picture-containing unit having a projecting edge composed of a plurality of consecutive faces forming at least part of the profile of a regular polygon; at least three intermediate triangular wedge-shaped units of equal size and shape having each a straight edge portion of the same length as each of the edge faces of the projecting edge portion of said first picture-containing unit, the total length of said edge portions of said intermediate wedge units not exceeding the length of said projecting edge of said first picture-containing unit, said triangular intermediate wedge units lying in the complete panel adjacent to each other and to said first picture-containing unit with their edge faces abutting against corresponding consecutive edge faces of said first picture-containing unit, two adjacent ones of said wedgeshaped units containing complementary portions of the picture on said first picture carrying portion, said adjacent intermediate triangular wedge-shaped units thus forming between themselves receding spaced portions having each a combined edge formed by the edges of said inter mediate units, said receding spaced portions and the combined edges thereof being equally shaped; and at least one second picture-containing unit having a shape fitting into one of said receding shaped portions and having an edge portion complementary to said combined edge portions of said intermediate wedge-shaped units, said second picture-containing unit lying in a complete panel in said receding spaced portions with its edge portions abutting against the corresponding combined edge portions of said intermediate units, said second picture-containing unit containing a picture portion complementing that on the first picture-containing portion and the said two adjacent wedge-shaped portions to form a complete picture.

3. In a jigsaw-puzzle composed of a series of complementary picture-carrying units adapted to be juxtaposed in different directions so as to form a complete panel depicting different pictures in the several positions respectively, in combination, a first picture-containing unit having a convex arcuate edge portion; at least three intermediate three-sided wedge-shaped units of equal size and shape having each two straight sides and a third concave arcuate edge side of the same curvature as said convex arcuate edge portion of said first picture-containing unit, the total length of said concave edge sides of said intermediate three-sided wedge units not exceeding the length of said convex arcuate edge portion of said first picture containing unit, said intermediate wedge units lying in the complete panel adjacent to each other and to said first picture-carrying unit with their concave arcuate edge sides abutting against said convex arcuate edge portion of said first picture-containing unit, two adjacent ones of said wedge-shaped units containing complementary portions of the picture on said first picture-carrying portion, said adjacent intermediate wedge-shaped units thus forming between themselves receding spaced portions having each a combined edge formed by the edges of said intermediate units, said receding spaced portions and the combined edges thereof being equally shaped; and at least one second picture-containing unit having a shape fitting into one of said receding spaced portions and having an edge portion complementary to said combined edge portions of said intermediate wedge-shaped units, said second picture-containing unit lying in a complete panel in said receding spaced portions with its edge portions abutting against the corresponding combined edge portions of said intermediate units, said second picture-containing unit containing a picture portion complementing that on the first picture-containing portion and the said two adjacent wedge-shaped portions to form a complete picture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES 1949 Danbury Catalogue, New Horizons in Floor Design. 

